NAMI Amador provides good ways for persons with mental illness and their friends and families to explore solutions, share experiences and information, obtain mutual support and become better informed.

NAMI Amador's purpose is to educate ourselves and the community about mental illness; to eliminate stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness; to encourage the active involvement of consumers and family members in the operation and improvement of the mental health system; and to never give up hope for positive change!!

NAMI Amador is Amador County's affiliate of our nation's largest grassroots mental health organization, the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

That over 25% of families in the US are touched by a mental disorder each year? (National Institute of Mental Health)

Mental Illness is a biological brain disorder that is not curable, but is treatable and can be managed. It is a disabling medical condition that disrupts a person's thinking, feeling, mood, daily functioning and ability to relate to others and cope with the ordinary demands of life. It is not the result of personal weakness, lack of character or poor upbringing.

The most common brain disorders are major depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Schizophrenia usually strikes those between the ages of 15 and 25.

Many thousands of other people live with serious conditions such as obsessive-compulsive, panic or schizoaffective disorders. About 6% of the US population lives with some type of major mental illness.

The suicide rate for individuals with severe psychiatric disorders is 7 to 10 times the rate in the general population.

Programs of NAMI Amador are supported in part by a California Mental Health Services Act contract with the Amador County Behavioral Health Department.